The present invention relates in general to the field of computers, and in particular to servers using management processors. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a method and system for a remote management processor to automatically provide its own Internet Protocol (IP) address to the management server assigned to manage it when the remote management processor receives its IP address from a DHCP server.
Current generation servers are often modular in their architecture. This modularity extends not only to the internal structure of the server, but also to appropriated resources of the server. A person responsible for administering the server may wish to use a management server (i.e. a computer running a management server software package) to access information about the server's hardware resources. They may also purchase a management processor for the server that allows them to communicate with the server even when the server's operating system is not present. In order to access the server when its operating system is not present, the management server must be able to communicate with the remote hardware server via its management processor's network interface.
Such a modular system is illustrated in FIG. 1. A management server 102 is designed to communicate via a network 104 with a remote management processor 106, which provides a communication interface to a remote hardware server 116. The communication between management server 102 and remote management processor 106 is typically via respective network interface cards (NICs) 110a and b, which are usually Ethernet cards. Remote hardware server 116 communicates information about hardware resources 114 controlled by its local operating system via a system NIC 110c. These resources may be memory, logic, and other hardware.
As the dotted line between NIC 110a-1 and NIC 110b suggests, management server 102 cannot communicate with remote management processor 106 unless management server 102 knows the IP address of remote management processor 106.
Remote management processor 106 can obtain an IP address from a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server 108, which is typically part of a network of DHCP servers. To obtain an IP address, remote management processor 106 follows well-established DHCP protocol. As described in FIG. 2, this protocol begins with a DHCP client, here being remote management processor 106, broadcasting a DHCP DISCOVER request to a network of DHCP servers 112. This DHCP DISCOVER packet asks any authorized DHCP Server receiving the DHCP DISCOVER packet for information about leasing an IP address. One or more DHCP servers in DHCP server network 112 respond with DHCP OFFER messages back to the remote management processor 106. The DHCP OFFER messages contain the IP addresses of the responding DHCP servers, plus a Dynamic IP address with lease information about the IP addresses being offered (typically as defined by the Internet Engineering Task Force Request For Comments 1534, 2131, and 2132).
The remote management processor 106 then decides which DHCP OFFER to accept, based on some pre-determined criteria, such as which DHCP OFFER was received first, which lease is most attractive to the needs of the remote sub-system processor 106, etc. The remote management processor 106 then returns a DHCP REQUEST message to the selected DHCP server 108 that sent the chosen DHCP OFFER. This DHCP Server 108 then returns a DHCP ACK message, which includes an IP address for the remote management processor 106, plus lease and configuration information related to that IP address assignment.
A serious problem with the procedure described in FIGS. 1 and 2 is that the management server 102 does not have an easy way of knowing when the remote management processor 106 comes on line, or what the IP address for the remote management processor 106 is. The remote management processor 106 is “unmanageable” as is remote hardware server 116 until the management server 102 being used by the administrator is given this information somehow. In other words, the administrator using management server 102 likely knows that he has bought or leased services from the remote management processor 106, but he doesn't know how to access these services without first knowing the IP address of the remote management processor 106. Therefore, an engineer or technician must go to the physical location of the remote management processor 106, configure it with an IP address as described in FIG. 2, and then call the system administrator on the phone telling that administrator that the remote management processor 106 is on line and what IP address is assigned to the remote management processor 106.
What is needed, therefore, is a method and system that automatically informs the management server what the IP address of the remote management processor coming on line is. Preferably, such a method and system would not require additional hardware, nor would it require additional software in the management server or the DHCP server.